Wow what a year we are having!!!! To start off the New Year a huge storm ripped through the farm and ripped our started wash station and barn to pieces.  The site of the devastation brought me to my knees.  I could not move for about two days and for about a week I felt like a little black cloud was over my head.   Good things come out of bad, and because of the storm we did a Kick Starter Campaign to help us build the building back.  You can check it out here. Watching the numbers go up and feeling the support from all of you was UN-belivable.   The barn is almost done and I think it will be ready to go by this Sunday.  Clay and a handful of good friends and farm hands have been working 7 days a week and long days to get it finished.  It is really been a wild ride.

In March, Clay’s father Doug passed away.  It has been very hard on Clay.  His father was a deep source of information and helped Clay figure out how to do many things on the farm.  We called him our supervisor.  You can watch a video about Clay’s dad by clicking here. We will miss him so much.

The weather this spring has been Awesome…….The farm is growing so fast and we are ready to get you some great veggies.

The CSA will start the week of May 21.  Here is a link to the pick up points and their start dates. I don’t have pick up points for all the CSA members yet but I will be contacting you if I need it.

We are also excited about our Tomato plant sale on the farm.  It will be May 5, 6 and May 12 and 13.  Here is a link to the sale

Have you ever wanted to check out our Farm to Fork Dinners?   This is the year you should make it happen.

If you want to see us earlier….We are at the Down Town Farmers Market on Saturdays from 9:30 till 1:30.  We have wonderful Spring veggies.  Come see us.

We are closing in on the last of the CSA for the season with only two weeks of pick up left.  This has been a great year for the farm and we have had a wonderful harvest.

The Harvest Festival

The harvest festival will be October 9 at 11 am till 2 pm.  Please come out to the farm and pick up your last CSA share, enjoy the music, cider press and bring a dish to share in the outrageous farm pot luck.  Please bring plates and silverware with you.  The Harvest Festival is such a fun event for the whole family but please leave your furry family members at home.  We love your dogs but this is not an event for dogs.  Bring bags and boxes to take your bounty home also you might gleen some food from the fields so be prepared.  We will have new peaceful belly farm tee shirts for sale and we will be taking security deposits for next years CSA.  The deposit is $100 so bring money or a check.  The farm is located on Broken Horn road.  Seaman’s Gulch Road turns into broken Horn Road just past Dry Creek Road after the main entrance of Hidden Springs.  See you there.  If you cant make it and still want to pick up your last CSA share sen us an email at info@peacefulbelly.com

Tomatoes

We are selling 10 pound boxes of tomatoes to CSA members for the great price of $17.  If you would like a 10 pound box or a few boxes we can have them waiting for you at the CSA pick up points.  Sen me an email and let me know how many you would like  at info@peacefulbelly.com  We have Romas or red tomatoes.

This week in your pick up you will see; chard, potatoes, cabbage, turnips, basil, onions and kohlrabi.  Kohlrabi?  This is an ancient vegetable in fact it could be one of the oldest cultivated vegetables.  You eat the big round part.  Peel the kohlrabi and then slic it up.  I eat mine raw in a salad or just as a sside with a little salt and pepper.  It tastes like a hicama.  Have fun with it.

Cooking Classes at the market  

Abby the farm chef is having cooking classes every week at the down town market.  She is taking the strange veggies and showing how to use them.  If you are having questions about some of the veggies you should come check out Abby’s “Chef at the Market” booth.  The 30th of July she will be cooking cardoons.  And you will see them is your CSA box the next week.  Free cooking classes!!! Cant beat that.

No CSA the WEEK of August 8th

Clay and I are going for a week vacation the week of August 8th.  We will not have a CSA pick up that week.  We are going to Glacier National Park with Clay’s whole family.  We have not had a summer vacation since we started Peaceful Belly, nine years ago.  Clay and his brother were both born while his parents were stationed as rangers in Glacier Park.  We thought that we better have a reunion as a whole family there.  CSA pick up will resume the next week and continue through the end of September.  The CSA  is 17 weeks long with the Harvest Festival on October 9th being the 18th pick up of squash and fall veggies.  So please put that on your calendar.

Magic Beans?

The magic beans that grew overnight into a beanstalk that reached into the clouds were very probably fava beans or, as the English call them, broad beans. Americans, however, have been slow to appreciate their enchanting powers.

The pale green beans in the big floppy pods have been a beloved early spring food on much of the planet for centuries. Favas — also known as Windsor beans, English beans, horse beans and pigeon beans — have long been diet staples in Asia, the Middle East, South America, North Africa and Europe.

These ancient beans are one of the oldest cultivated plants and among the easiest to grow. They were the onlybeans Europeans ate before they discovered America and all its legumes. They took our beans home and left us the fava, which never really caught on.

After preparing them, you begin to understand why. This is a labor-intensive process. First, you string and shuck the beans, then parboil them before removing from a waxy coating. It is something to do on a Sunday afternoon around the kitchen table or on the front porch with friends. For Americans, that’s a lot of time to spend on a bean.

A great web site about how to shell them click here

I like them shelled and then sauteed in a little butter and salt and pepper but there are many ways to eat them.  Have fun with them.

Flower shares and wine shares start this week.  The fruit shares are still a few weeks ways….we hope soon I cant wait for one of Eagle Creeks Peaches.

     in you pick up this week you will have these funny little things called garlic scapes.  They are the flowering necks of the garlic and a real treat.  Their texture is like a green bean with a light garlic flavor.  I love t just saute them up and add to pasta.  Here are some other ideas; Chop them up into one inch pieces and saute witha little olive oil until soft then add them and your favorite hard shredded cheese to some pasta with a little salt and pepper.  They are also wonderful in eggs or on a pizza or in a stir fry. There are so many fun recipes on the Internet for these strange little treats.  Have fun!

    Flower and wine shares begin the week of July 11th.  If you have a flower or wine share look for them starting that week.  Fruit share should start around the same time, the apricots are ripening up.  It is not too late to sign up for a fruit share or a wine or flower share just click here for the fruit share or click herefor the wine and fruit.   You will be sorry if you don’t. 

   Remember that we will not have a CSA pick up the week of July 4th.  In the past we have so many people not pick up their share that week that we have decided to give us that week to catch up on weeding.  We will resume pick ups the week after. Please mark that on your calendar.

We hope you are enjoying the spring bounty and you are having fun with boc choy.  This is the time to eat your green.  Thanks so much for choosing us to grow your food.

So what do you do with all these things?  I have included some recipes so have fun and remember, stir fry, stir fry stir fry!

Arugula- can be eaten raw in a salad or you can lightly wilt it in a pasta or make a pesto with it.  I  love to saute a little garil in some butter or olive oil and toss it over a nice pasta.  I put in the arugula  and let the warm pasta wilt it just a little then I top it off with a nice hard cheese like manchego or asiago and a little salt.  Easy and so good!  Try this if you think it is too bitter for your salad. 

ARUGULA PESTO SAUCE eat with artichokes, noodles, toast, carrot sticks…

3 cups packed arugula (about 3/4 pound), washed well and spun dry 1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted golden and cooled 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 large garlic clove, chopped 3 tablespoons olive oil 1/4 cup hot water plus additional if desired In a food processor pulse together all ingredients except oil and water until arugula is chopped fine. With motor running add oil in a stream, blending mixture until smooth. Sauce may be made up to this point 1 week ahead and chilled, its surface covered with plastic wrap. Bring sauce to room temperature to continue. Stir in 1/4 cup hot water plus additional for thinner consistency if desired.

RAPINI: also called raab, broccoli rabe, cime de rape, rape and brocoletti. It’s a form of turnip green. Blanched Rapini (Broccoli Raab)
adapted from Cook’s Illustrated

Using a salad spinner makes easy work of drying the cooled blanched rapini.

1 pound rapini (broccoli rabe), washed, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 teaspoons salt

Bring 3 quarts water to boil in large saucepan. Stir in rapinigreens and salt and cook until wilted and tender, about 2 1/2 minutes. Drain and set aside. Cool empty saucepan by rinsing under cold running water. Fill cooled saucepan with cold water and submerge greens to stop the cooking process. Drain again; squeeze well to dry and proceed with one of the following recipes.

Rapini with garlic and red pepper flakes

2 T extra virgin olive oil
3 medium garlic cloves
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 recipe blanched rapini greens (above)

Heat oil, garlic and red pepper flakes in medium skillet over medium heat until garlic begins to sizzle, about 3 to 4 minutes. Increase heat to medium high, add blanched rapini greens, and cook, stirring to coat with oil, until heated through, about 1 minute. Season to taste with salt, serve immediately.

Rapini with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Pine Nuts

Follow recipe for Rapini with Garlic and Red Pepper Flakes, adding 1/4 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, cut into thin strips, along with garlic and red pepper flakes. Add 3 Tablespoons toasted pine nuts to skillet along with rapini greens.

Pea shoots check out this web site it is all about pea shoots, click here

Turnips Tips

adapted from “From Asparagus to Zucchini”

*Eat turnips raw. Slice or thickly julienne and add to vegetable platter or eat alone with or without dip.
*Grate raw into salads.
*Bake turnips alone for 30-45 minutes at 350 degrees, basted with oil, or bake along with other seasonal roots.
*Cook turnips with roasting meats.
*Mash or scallop turnips, just like you would potatoes.
* Dice turnips into soups or stews, and julienne into stir fries.

My favorite way to cook turnips is to saute them with a little oil until they are soft.  I add garlic or cumin.  Turnips seem to  

Remember that the tomato plant sale starts this weekend and runs for the next three week ends in a row.  This year we have so much more then just tomatoes.  We are growing peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, melon….come by and check it out.  Click here for more information and directions to the farm.

Csa starts in about a month and we are so excited to pull veggies out of the ground for you.  We are trying some new things this year so look forward to a few suprises now and then.  Take care and I will send a new letter next week.

The new baby!!!!  Just like spring this new baby is late.  We are waiting the arrival of the new family member and we will let you know but as of today the baby is is a little stubborn.

Are you Ready To Plant Your Own Garden?  

Make sure you don’t miss the Peaceful Belly Plant Sale.

This is an amazing fun plant sale for those of us that are crazy about plants.  We are calling it our Freaks of the Garden Sale.  This will be the sixth year of the Peaceful Belly Tomato Plant Sale. The Sale will be held April 30, May1,  May 7,8 and May 14,15 at our Farm on Broken Horn Road, in the Dry Creek Valley, 9 to 5 pm  each day.  . We raise over 170 types of Tomatoes all from seed, 80 types of peppers, squash, melons, eggplants, herbs and so much more.  It seems a little crazy but we want the folks of  this area to understand the massive diversity in the agricultural plant world. Commercial Agriculture is causing so many agricultural plant species to become extinct by not growing them for consumers. It is easier for farmers to grow just a few varieties of tomatoes for commercial use but this is cause major damage in the preservation of seeds and the diversification of plant species. It will be up to the small farms and the home gardens to save these precious jewels for the future. Every time you grow a heirloom tomato plant and you save the seed you are doing your part to help preserve seeds for the future.

The 2011 Freaks in You Garden and Heirloom Plant sale will be held at our farm in the Dry Creek Valley.  The farm is located on Broken Horn Road.  If coming from Boise take Hill road to Seaman’s Gulch road.  Drive past the Land Fill and Past Hidden Springs development.  You will come to a stop sign at Dry Creek Road proceed straight  on Broken Horn, we are the second left.

Here is alink to all the varieties